Many years ago, in 1990, the Summit County Farm
Bureau Board of Trustees established The Summit County Farm Bureau
Distinguished Service Award as a means to recognize members for their
outstanding service. Specifically, it is
the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a member. The award is given to a bona fide farmer who
has made an outstanding contribution to their local community and the industry
of
agriculture. Choosing a worthy recipient from the many
qualified members can be difficult for the three previous winners, who are
assigned the task.
This year’s honoree has been a Summit County Farm Bureau member for “almost” 40 years. He has volunteered at our Summit County Farm Bureau’s Antique Museum during the fair each summer for too many years to count and we really can’t remember a September when he did NOT attend our annual meeting.
In 1945, his parents purchased the 22 acre farm in Green to move their family out of the city to the country in search of a better life. Here they established a typical small holding with vegetables, livestock and hay.
Our recipient was born in 1952, the youngest of 3 children, and has lived his entire life ON THE FARM.
You could say that farming was in his blood. Not only did he work the family farm but also worked on the dairy farm across the street all through his school years, which truly sparked his love of farming. In fact, he purchased his first tractor when he was just 16 years old.
His nickname in school was FARMER which he is still called by his “school mates” to this day. Graduating from Green High School in 1970, he started raising feeder calves in 1972.
He worked at Goodyear with his closest friend, Tim Rayl, after high school graduation but they both were laid off in their mid 20’s. They put their thinking caps on to decide what they could do. They thought about dairy farming but realized that would be extremely time restrictive.
The friend decided he was going to try his hand as a meat-cutter so our recipient decided that his old bull, Clyde, would be the perfect victim to hone their skills – what a mess they encountered. However, they still talk about that experience and remember that Clyde was the toughest meat they ever ate.
After the fiasco with Clyde, they moved on to their next thought – the first semi was purchased and the second followed shortly thereafter. J-RAYL TRUCKING was born. The trucking company allowed our recipient to continue his love of farming.
When you are young you think you are invincible. So when he came home from the National Guard, he rented 20 acres near the family farm and continued to rent more and more acreage until it climbed to 350 acres of corn and hay. However, in his mid 30’s he was forced to cut back on the number of acreage when his health suffered.
He now farms just under 100 acres, 20 he owns and 75 that he rents; diversified with hay, oats, wheat, corn and soybeans.
An interesting fact that you might not know, our recipient always wears boots. In fact, he doesn’t own any shoes. This is so well know that the girls at the local bank play Clint Eastwood background music when he “stomps” in.
In 2001, he married a city girl he had met at a wedding reception. She had 3 children and he readily accepted the full package deal. These three children have blessed Papa and Nanny with 9 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Our recipient retired from the trucking company last February. The sign displayed at his retirement party read “A legend has retired!” Now he gets to work at his true love – FARMING!” When asked about getting older, he says we do everything we have always done, we just do it a little slower.
After all, he is too busy farming to do anything else.
Please help us show our appreciation to our 2022 Distinguished Service Award recipient, Jim St. John!